Every year. I don’t get it, but every single year we see the stores gear up for sales that people stand in line for, we see Christmas Trees for sale in mid-November. We see the holiday of Thanksgiving (certainly one of the more poignant holidays, in terms of meaning, that we have) totally skipped in… Continue reading The Futility of the Christmas War
For the last couple weeks we’ve been having tea at night with our four children while we read books and just sit together at the end of a day. The first book we’ve completed during this new tradition is A Nest For Celeste: A Story About Art, Inspiration, and the Meaning of Home by author… Continue reading A Nest For Celeste (a little review)
*Sigh* For the last two years I’ve been helping out a particular feral cat that showed up at our trash can, regularly. I figured it was easier to feed him than to watch him tear up the trash every morning- and with that- my conscience. He is a beautiful, tawny colored tabby with intense green… Continue reading The Wild One
I’ve never had much luck with banana bread. No matter the recipe I’d try, it had this bizarre tendency to burn on the bottom before the middle was anywhere near cooked through. It isn’t that I’m a bad baker. I have my moments, but generally speaking, I’m fairly decent. This banana bread issue was beginning… Continue reading Double Chocolate Banana Bread….or possibly Cake
Its the last day of school today. Last day for our school forever. Lot of tears, lot of anger seeping through- frustration. I’m not sure what it is precisely, but there is a level of mistrust between the town that ate our school and our little village. It may not be personal but it feels… Continue reading Loss
Three weeks back I received a message on facebook (remember that for later on) telling me that our local school board would most likely vote to close down our village school. A little history. Our town had its own school at one time. With the population dwindling over the years, we joined forces with the… Continue reading Goodbye to the Village School
My desk sits in our little front room, and is surrounded on the north and east by windows that look into our front yard. This morning, as I was wrestling with a particularly difficult section of an assignment on diversity, I noticed some movement on the ground outside that north window. There were ring-necked doves,… Continue reading The Blessing of Birdseed
It seems I’ve always crocheted. When I was a little girl, my mother taught me the single crochet stitch, sat me down with some red yarn and had me make what turned out to be a wonky, somewhat ugly scarf. During this time, my friend Fawn, who lived outside of town on a little farm… Continue reading Yarn
Two weeks ago, I lost my friend Mary. She passed away, suddenly, in her home. She was 33. We originally met when she was four and I was nearly six. She, her sister and mom had moved in with us for awhile after her parents divorce. We became fast friends and started referring to each… Continue reading
I just came back inside on this rather cool and blustery day. I’d gone out to watch Cliff and Leroy flush the sewer system. Also just to have a chat, because they’re two of my favorite village experts. Cliff no longer lives here, but drives out several times a week to help with assorted town… Continue reading The Storm of ’09
Wren & Starling 